Method and apparatus for controlling communication between communication devices

ABSTRACT

A wireless network includes a base transceiver station configured to transmit signals over a wireless connection to a plurality of terminals and receive signals over a wireless connection from a plurality of terminals. The terminal may transmit a connection request message including an identifier and a request to identify the new terminal to the network when the new terminal tries to access the wireless network. A base station or access point may receive or maintain information or a list regarding one or more new terminals attempting to access the wireless network. The base station or access point may receive a control command indicative of a selection of at least one terminal from the list. The base station or access point may connect the at least one terminal to the access point or network.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/460,272, filed Apr. 30, 2012, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/474,156, filed May 28, 2009, now issued as U.S.Pat. No. 8,169,988 on May 1, 2012, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 09/860,765, filed May 21, 2001, now issued as U.S.Pat. No. 7,554,957 on Jun. 30, 2009, which claims the benefit of FinnishApplication No. 20001311, filed May 31, 2000. All of theabove-referenced applications are incorporated by reference as if fullyset forth.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The exemplary embodiments relate to a wireless local area networkwherein terminals, through a base transceiver station, are able tocommunicate with each other and possibly with terminals connected toother telecommunication networks if the base transceiver station isconnected e.g. to the Internet.

BACKGROUND

Wireless local area networks are previously known, such as wirelesslocal area networks WLAN, wherein mobile terminals (clients) equippedwith WLAN cards move around and, using radio signals, communicate with“access points.” A problem associated with these known wireless localarea networks is the way in which a new terminal is connected to anetwork. Since terminals are connected to the network through a wirelessconnection, in practice the wireless network necessitates an arrangementto prevent unauthorized terminals from connecting to the network.Otherwise there is a risk that e.g. an outsider standing in the streetmight, using a wireless terminal, access a wireless local area networkof an adjacent company.

In the known wireless local area networks, the use of unauthorizeddevices has been prevented by only allowing terminals registered in aparticular network to be used therein. If a new terminal is to be usedin the network, information on the particular terminal should beregistered in the network in advance so that a base transceiver stationof the network would be willing to communicate with the new terminal.

In the known wireless local area networks, the registration mentionedabove is implemented such that each terminal has a unique identifier ofits own to enable the particular terminal to be identified. Before theterminal is put to use in a wireless network, the identifier of theterminal should be entered into the wireless local area network. Inpractice, the identifier can be entered e.g. into a base transceiverstation of the wireless local area network. When the wireless networkknows the identifier identifying the terminal, the base transceiverstation of the wireless network allows the terminal to access thenetwork.

SUMMARY

The known solution described above presents such a problem that it isrelatively difficult to register a new terminal in a wireless local areanetwork. In practice, the problem usually is that a user does not knowthe identifier of his or her terminal. Neither can the user thus enterinto the local area network the identifier that would enable his or herterminal to be used in the wireless local area network. The problem isparticularly serious in wireless networks used in households and smallcompanies, because technical support is not often available, at leastnot easily enough.

An object of the present disclosure is to alleviate the above-describedproblem and to provide a solution to improve the user-friendliness ofwireless local area networks, and particularly to make a new terminaleasier to connect to a wireless local area network. This object isachieved by an exemplary embodiment for connecting a terminal to awireless local area network. The exemplary embodiment is characterizedby arranging said terminal to transmit a connect message comprising anidentifier to identify the terminal, retrieving, through a userinterface, information on terminals which have tried to access the localarea network, i.e. terminals that have transmitted a connect message,selecting, through the user interface, said terminal to be connected tothe local area network from among the terminals that have tried toaccess the local area network, and entering, through the user interface,a control command as a result of which the local area network allows theterminal selected through said user interface to access the local areanetwork.

An exemplary embodiment also relates to a wireless local area networkcomprising: a base transceiver station comprising means for transmittingsignals over a wireless connection to one or more terminals connected tothe local area network, and means for receiving signals over a wirelessconnection from one or more terminals connected to the local areanetwork, and a user interface to enable a user to transmit a controlcommand to the local area network in order for the local area network toallow a new terminal to be connected to the local area network. Anexemplary embodiment is characterized in that said new terminal isarranged to transmit a connect message comprising an identifier toidentify the new terminal to the local area network when said newterminal tries to access said wireless network, the local area networkis arranged to transmit information on one or more new terminals tryingto access said wireless network to the user through said user interface,and the local area network is arranged to provide access to the networkfor the terminal(s) the information on which has been transmitted to theuser through the user interface and for which the user has given saidcontrol command through the user interface.

An exemplary embodiment also relates to a base transceiver station of awireless local area network, the base transceiver station comprisingmeans for transmitting signals over a wireless connection to one or moreterminals connected to the local area network, and means for receivingsignals over a wireless connection from one or more terminals connectedto the local area network. The base transceiver station of the exemplaryembodiment is characterized in that the base transceiver stationcomprises means for transmitting information on one or more newterminals which have tried to access said wireless network to a userinterface, and the base transceiver station is arranged to provideaccess to the network for the terminal(s) the information on which hasbeen transmitted to said user interface by the base transceiver stationand for which the base transceiver station has received a controlcommand through the user interface in order to connect the terminals(s)to the wireless network.

An exemplary embodiment also relates to a terminal of a wireless localarea network, the terminal comprising means for transmitting signalsover a wireless connection to a base transceiver station of the localarea network, and means for receiving signals over a wireless connectionfrom the base transceiver station of the wireless local area network.The terminal of the exemplary embodiment is characterized in that theterminal is arranged to transmit a connect message comprising anidentifier to identify the terminal to the base transceiver station whensaid terminal tries to access said wireless network.

An exemplary embodiment is based on the idea that the user-friendlinessof a wireless local area network is considerably improved when a newterminal to be connected to the network is arranged to transmit itsidentifier to the wireless network, whereafter, through a user interfaceof the wireless local area network, the new terminal on whichinformation is transmitted to the user by the user interface is simplyaccepted into use by the user. The user does thus not need to know theidentifier of the terminal to be connected to the wireless local areanetwork but the identifier is automatically transmitted from theterminal to the wireless local area network. The user, through the userinterface, only needs to accept the new terminal to be connected to thenetwork.

In accordance with the exemplary embodiment, information e.g. on theterminals that have tried to access the wireless network during the lastminute can be transmitted to the user through the user interface. Theuser can thus be sure that e.g. the terminal that he or she has justswitched on in order to connect the particular terminal to the wirelesslocal area network is the particular terminal the information on whichis transmitted to the user by the user interface.

The most important advantage of the solution of the exemplary embodimentis thus improved user-friendliness. Furthermore, the user, through theuser interface of the local area network, is enabled to monitor whetheran outside terminal repeatedly tries to access his or her local areanetwork. This is achieved by providing the wireless local area networkwith a memory to store long-term information on the terminals that havetried to access the wireless local area network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, exemplary embodiments will be described in closerdetail by way of example and with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first exemplary embodiment of awireless network, and

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing a first exemplary embodiment of awireless network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first exemplary embodiment of awireless network. In the case of FIG. 1, a base transceiver station 1serves as an access point of the local area network. In the exemplarycase of FIG. 1, the base transceiver station 1 is connected to a moreextensive telecommunication network, e.g. to the Internet, through anasymmetric data subscriber line ADSL interface.

The wireless local area network of FIG. 1 has been provided with twoterminals, i.e. a portable microcomputer 2 and a desktop micro-computer3, connected thereto. Using radio signals, the terminals communicatewith the base transceiver station 1, which means that through the basetransceiver station they are able to communicate e.g. with each otheror, alternatively, they can be connected e.g. to the Internet throughthe ADSL interface of the base transceiver station. The microcomputers 2and 3 can be prior art microcomputers having wireless local area networkWLAN cards known per se installed therein. The WLAN cards are providedwith the necessary radio equipment to enable the microcomputers, usingradio signals, to communicate with the base transceiver station. In theWLAN network of FIG. 1, communication may take place e.g. within afrequency range of 2.4 GHz.

Although in the case of FIG. 1 both terminals connected to the wirelesslocal area network are microcomputers, any device for which atelecommunication connection is to be set up can be connected to thewireless network. The terminals can thus comprise e.g. an output unit,wireless telephone or a home electronics device, such as a television,radio or even a washing machine, if a need exists to set up atelecommunication connection to such a device.

The wireless local area network of FIG. 1 also comprises a userinterface 4 to enable the wireless local area network to be controlled.In the exemplary case of FIG. 1, a terminal connected to the basetransceiver station 1 constitutes the user interface. The user interfacecan, however, be implemented in another way, e.g. by integrating it intothe base transceiver station 1. The base transceiver station can thencomprise a display and a keypad to enable the user to control the localarea network.

In the case of FIG. 1, the user interface can be integrated such thatthe base transceiver station maintains world wide web WWW pages ontowhich it produces information on the local area network. The terminalserving as the user interface 4 then employs browser software to enablea person maintaining the local area network to access the WWW pages ofthe base transceiver station in order to read and enter information.According to an exemplary embodiment, a piece of the informationproduced onto the WWW pages of the base transceiver station is a list ofsuch terminals which have tried to access the wireless local areanetwork e.g. during the last minute. The user can thus see the list ofthe terminals that have tried to access the network from the display ofthe user interface 4, in which case the user can through his or herterminal give a control command to the base transceiver station e.g. toconnect a particular terminal to the wireless local area network. Theprocess of connecting a new terminal to the local area network of FIG. 1will be described in closer detail by means of the flow diagram of FIG.2.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing a first exemplary embodiment of methodfor use in a wireless network. The flow diagram of FIG. 2 can beutilized e.g. for connecting a new terminal to the wireless local areanetwork shown in FIG. 1. In the following description, it will beassumed that a terminal 3 is being connected to the wireless local areanetwork of FIG. 1, the use of the particular terminal in the local areanetwork having earlier been prevented by the base transceiver station 1because the terminal has not been previously registered in the localarea network of FIG. 1.

In block A, the terminal 3 trying to access the network is arranged totransmit a connect message provided with an identifier of the terminal.Prior to this, the terminal 3 has either automatically examined theavailable channels until it has found the traffic channel used by thebase transceiver station (the network name determined for the terminalbeing displayed on the traffic channel) or the correct traffic channelhas been supplied to the terminal, in which case the terminal does notneed to carry out a search. In block A, the terminal 3 is arranged totransmit such a connect message that the local area network (the basetransceiver station in the case of FIG. 1) will understand that theterminal is a new terminal which tries to access the local area networkmaintained by the base transceiver station. The identifier transmittedin the connect message by the terminal 3 comprises a unique,terminal-specific identifier to enable the terminal to be distinguishedfrom other terminals. An alternative is to use a medium access controlMAC address of the terminal.

In block B, information on the terminal that tried to access the networkis retrieved through the user interface 4. In the case of FIG. 1, thisinformation is stored in the memory of the base transceiver 1, fromwhich it is retrieved by means of the user interface 4, i.e. theterminal. According to an exemplary embodiment, the display of the userinterface then shows a list of the identifiers of the terminals thathave tried to access the network. The times at which the terminal havingthe particular identifier has tried to access the network can be shownin connection with the identifiers. Alternatively, the display of theuser interface may show a list of the identifiers of only the terminalsthat have tried to access the network e.g. during the last minute. Theuser can thus be relatively sure that the identifier shown on thedisplay of the user interface is the identifier of the terminal 3 whichhe or she is adding to the wireless network.

In block C, the terminal 3 to be connected to the network is selectedthrough the user interface from among the devices that have tried toaccess the wireless network, and in block D, through the user interface,a control command is entered as a result of which the local areanetwork, i.e. in practice the base transceiver station 1 in the case ofFIG. 1, allows the selected device(s) to access the network. Dependingon the implementation, the procedures of blocks C and D can be carriedout in one or more stages, e.g. such that the terminal(s) that is/are tobe connected to the network is/are selected from the user interface bymeans of the graphic user interface 4, after which a control command isgiven e.g. by pressing the ENTER key to accept the selected terminals tobe added to the network.

In accordance with an exemplary embodiment, the user interface enablesthe user, through the user interface, to enter a “cleartext name” (e.g.“the study computer”) for the new terminal connected to the network. Ifdesired, through the user interface, the user is thus capable of viewingthe list of the terminals that are allowed to be used in the network,the list being located in the memory of the base transceiver station 1.The cleartext names selected by the user himself or herself thus enableas user-friendly a presentation of the allowed devices as possible. Ifthe user later wishes to remove a single device, this can also becarried out through the graphic user interface e.g. such that the user,using the list produced by the user interface, selects the terminal heor she wishes to remove. Since the names given by the user to theterminals are shown, different devices are easy to identify through theuser interface.

It is to be understood that the above description and the relatedfigures are only intended to illustrate the present invention. It isobvious to one skilled in the art that the invention can be varied andmodified in many ways without deviating from the scope and spirit of theinvention disclosed in the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating a first communicationdevice, the method comprising: receiving a connect message from at leastone second communication device during a period of time, wherein theconnect message comprises an identifier, wherein communication betweenthe first device and the at least one second device is prevented untilcommunication is allowed; displaying, via an integral user interface, adisplayed list, the displayed list comprising an indication that theconnect message was received from the at least one second communicationdevice during the period of time; detecting, via the integral userinterface, a selection of the indication; and allowing furthercommunications between the first communication device and the at leastone second communication device based on the detected selection of theindication.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first communicationdevice is a base transceiver station.
 3. The method of claim 1 whereinthe at least one second communication device is a wirelesstelecommunication device.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the firstcommunication device comprises a display and the integral user interfaceis capable of displaying WWW pages.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein thedisplayed list comprises a cleartext name for the at least one secondcommunication device.
 6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:displaying, via the integral user interface, a displayed second list,the displayed second list comprising an indication of an allowedcommunication device; detecting, via the integral user interface, aselection of the indication of the allowed communication device; andpreventing further communications between the first communication deviceand the allowed communication device based on the detected selection ofthe indication of the allowed communication device.
 7. The method ofclaim 6 wherein the allowed communication device is the at least onesecond communication device.
 8. The method of claim 6 wherein theindication of the allowed communication device is an entered cleartextname.
 9. The method of claim 4 further comprising: displaying, via theintegral user interface, a displayed second list, the displayed secondlist comprising an indication of an allowed communication device;detecting, via the integral user interface, a selection of theindication of the allowed communication device; and preventing furthercommunications between the first communication device and the allowedcommunication device based on the detected selection of the indicationof the allowed communication device.
 10. The method of claim 9 whereinthe displayed list comprises an entered cleartext name for the allowedcommunication device.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein the enteredcleartext name is entered using the integral user interface.
 12. Amethod of administering a communication network, the method comprising:receiving a connect message from at least one communication deviceduring a period of time, the connect message comprising an identifier;preventing the at least one communication device from communicatingusing the communication network until communication is allowed;displaying, via an integral user interface, a displayed list, thedisplayed list comprising an indication that the connect message wasreceived from the at least one communication device during the period oftime; detecting, via the integral user interface, a selection of theindication; and allowing the at least one communication device tocommunicate using the communication network based on the detectedselection of the indication.
 13. The method of claim 12 wherein the atleast one communication device is a wireless telecommunication device.14. The method of claim 12 wherein the list is displayed on the integraluser interface, the integral user interface capable of displaying WWWpages.
 15. The method of claim 12 wherein the displayed list comprises acleartext name for the at least one communication device.
 16. The methodof claim 12 further comprising: displaying, via the integral userinterface, a displayed second list, the displayed second list comprisingan indication of an allowed communication device; detecting, via theintegral user interface, a selection of the indication of the allowedcommunication device; and preventing further communications using thecommunication network by the allowed communication device.
 17. Themethod of claim 16 wherein the allowed communication device is the atleast one communication device.
 18. The method of claim 16 wherein theindication of the allowed communication device is an entered cleartextname.
 19. The method of claim 14 further comprising: displaying, via theintegral user interface, a displayed second list, the displayed secondlist comprising an indication of an allowed communication device;detecting, via the integral user interface, a selection of theindication of the allowed communication device; and preventing furthercommunications using the communication network by the allowedcommunication device based on the detected selection of the indicationof the allowed communication device.
 20. The method of claim 19 whereinthe displayed second list comprises an entered cleartext name for theallowed communication device.
 21. A non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium with stored instructions executable by a computer, theinstructions comprising: instructions to receive a connect message thatindicates at least one communication device requesting a persistentcommunication relationship, during a period of time; instructions toprevent further communication by the at least one communication deviceuntil communication is allowed; instructions to display, via a userinterface, a displayed list, the list comprising an indication that theconnect message was received from the at least one communication deviceduring the period of time; instructions to detect, via the userinterface, a selection of the indication of the communication device;and instructions to enable persistent communications of the at least onecommunication device based on the detected selection of the indication.22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein the atleast one communication device is a wireless telecommunication device.23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 wherein the userinterface is capable of displaying WWW pages.
 24. The computer-readablestorage medium of claim 21 wherein the indication comprises an enteredcleartext name for the at least one communication device.
 25. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 21 further comprising:instructions to display, via the user interface, a displayed secondlist, the displayed second list comprising an indication of an allowedcommunication device; instructions to detect, via the user interface, aselection of the indication of the allowed communication device; andinstructions to disable persistent communications of the allowedcommunication device based on the detected selection of the indicationof the allowed communication device.
 26. The computer-readable storagemedium of claim 25 wherein the allowed communication device is the atleast one communication device.
 27. The computer-readable storage mediumof claim 25 wherein the indication of the allowed communication deviceis an entered cleartext name.
 28. The computer-readable storage mediumof claim 23 further comprising: instructions to display, via the userinterface, a displayed second list, the displayed second list comprisingan indication of an allowed communication device; instructions todetect, via the user interface, a selection of the indication of theallowed communication device; and instructions to prevent furthercommunications by the allowed communication device based on the detectedselection of the indication of the allowed communication device.
 29. Thecomputer-readable storage medium of claim 28 wherein the displayedsecond list comprises an entered cleartext name for the allowedcommunication device.
 30. A first communication device, the firstcommunication device comprising: a receiver configured to receive aconnect message from at least one second communication device during aperiod of time, wherein the connect message comprises an identifier,wherein communication between the first device and the at least onesecond device is prevented until communication is allowed; an integraluser interface configured to display a displayed list, the displayedlist comprising an indication that the connect message was received fromthe at least one second communication device during the period of time;the integral user interface configured to detect a selection of theindication; and the first communication device configured to allowfurther communications between the first communication device and the atleast one second communication device based on the detected selection ofthe indication.
 31. The first communication device of claim 30 whereinthe first communication device is a base transceiver station.
 32. Thefirst communication device of claim 30 wherein the at least one secondcommunication device is a wireless telecommunication device.
 33. Thefirst communication device of claim 30 wherein the first communicationdevice comprises a display and the integral user interface is capable ofdisplaying WWW pages.
 34. The first communication device of claim 30wherein the displayed list comprises a cleartext name for the at leastone second communication device.
 35. The first communication device ofclaim 30 further comprising: the integral user interface configured todisplay a displayed second list, the displayed second list comprising anindication of an allowed communication device; the integral userinterface configured to detect a selection of the indication of theallowed communication device; and the first communication deviceconfigured to prevent further communications between the firstcommunication device and the allowed communication device.
 36. The firstcommunication device of claim 35 wherein the allowed communicationdevice is the at least one second communication device.
 37. The firstcommunication device of claim 35 wherein the indication of the allowedcommunication device is an entered cleartext name.
 38. The firstcommunication device of claim 33 further comprising: the integral userinterface configured to display a displayed second list, the displayedsecond list comprising an indication of an allowed communication device;the integral user interface configured to detect a selection of theindication of the allowed communication device; and the firstcommunication device configured to prevent further communicationsbetween the first communication device and the allowed communicationdevice.
 39. The first communication device of claim 38 wherein thedisplayed list comprises an entered cleartext name for the allowedcommunication device.
 40. The first communication device of claim 39wherein the entered cleartext name is entered using the integral userinterface.